Missouri medical school looking to add second campus

The MU School of Medicine announced a partnership today with two hospitals.

The move would establish a medical school and clinical campus in Springfield. Mercy Health representative Michele Schaefer says it’s important to keep future doctors from leaving the state.

“Southwest Missouri is an area that is undersupplied by physicians at this point in time," said Schaefer, "and it’s just going to get worse with the aging of the population and access to insurance—those sorts of things. So, we recognize the need that we’re gonna have to grow our own in terms of physicians”

The medical school currently receives more than 1,500 applicants each year, but only has the capacity to accept 96. With the addition of the new campus, that number would increase to 128. MU officials estimate the plan would add more than 390 million dollars annually to the state’s economy and create 3,500 new jobs.